Giovanni Peirluigi da Palestrina

Missa Aaterna Christi Munera

The Kyrie

Dr. Ralph McInerny, Rest in Peace

You will be missed.

In paradisum deducant te Angeli:

in tuo adventu suscipiant te Martyres,

et perducant te in civitatem sanctam Jerusalem.

Chorus Angelorum te suscipiat,

et cum Lazaro quondam paupere aeternam habeas requiem.

My personal condolences to Dr. McInerny's family. All of you will be in our prayers. Thank you for being good friends of the Traditional Latin Mass Community at St. Patrick Catholic Church.

Obama's lack of religious practice says a lot

ABC News reports on President Barrack Husain Obama's lack of organized religion. In many ways the president’s religious beliefs mirror the practices of a majority of Americans: a religion of indifferentism, syncretism and one that is thoroughly privatized.

Privatization of Religion and Hatred of Neighbor

As the report states, the Obama’s have attended an ecclesial community only three times in the past year, but his “Christianity” remains an important part of his personal life. Rev. Jim Wallis, the president’s spiritual adviser assures us that “incessant media attention” is a distraction for the president because it exposes “what is traditionally a private practice” to public scrutiny.

Obama's privatized Christianity mirrors most Americans who consider religion a merely private thing, not proper dinner conversation, and certainly not an appropriate thing to influence one’s public life.

True Christianity, however, incurs responsibility and duty in the public realm because Christ not only commanded us to love God, but also to love our neighbor. There is no way to privately love one's neighbor. Love of neighbor is by nature a public act, and a Christianity without this public act is a mere shadow of what Our Blessed Lord established.

However, Obama's private faith does not include this public act. For this reason Obama can read his daily meditation every morning, and then continue his day by promoting the daily wanton destruction of thousands of innocent unborn babies. There is an obvious disconnect between what he claims to believe, and the ethical obligations of the same belief system. The privatization of religion is a convenient method of denying the very public obligations one has on account of his religion. Obama's private religion is a religion without obligation, and a religion without love of neighbor.

Indifferentism and Tyranny

Our president tells us:

My Faith and Neighborhood Initiatives director, Joshua DuBois, he has a devotional that he sends to me on my BlackBerry every day. That's how I start my morning. You know, he's got a passage, Scripture, in some cases quotes from other faiths to reflect on.

The degree of Obama’s syncretism is unclear. Perhaps he’s just saying this to sound politically correct. However, in saying this he gives the impression that all religions are equal as far as his private practice is concerned. This is not a Christian doctrine, wherein our Blessed Lord states rather emphatically that He is “the Way, the Truth, and the Life”, and that those who attempt heaven by some other means are robbers and thieves.

We are told that the Obamas are struggling to find a church home in Washington, D.C., and that aides and family friends have spent months visiting various local churches, but apparently to no avail. While church shopping is something common to most evangelical Protestants, it helps to highlight the president’s indifferentism. The choice of religious practice is based solely on personal preference, not doctrine.

While it is true that President George W. Bush did not officially join any ecclesial community in Washington, D.C., he did not, on the other hand, shop around for a religious belief. The Obamas, however, give the impression that they believe nothing specific and ask nothing specific from any given ecclesial community. This further highlights the indifferentism and privatization of religion in the mind of our president.

Religious people, no matter their faith, will find this president and his administration out of touch with them. This president uses a different religious language and sees the world through a near agnostic Weltanschauung. On the surface Obama’s religious philosophy seems libertarian, but once religious people attempt to practice their religion publicly, especially in the realm of public policy, then Obama’s libertarian veneer will shatter revealing a tyrannical anti-religious core.

It will be especially difficult for Christians living in this post-Christian world. The visage religious liberals like Obama have of the “old ways”, the moral dictates of the Protestantism of preceding generations, and the “pietism” of traditionalism, is one of private disdain and often open ridicule. These religious practices are absolutist by nature, insisting on degrees of perfection and an absolute Truth. As such, traditionalism challenges the relativism of syncretism.

However, there is no tolerance for absolutism among liberals, and this will translate in practice to no tolerance for traditionalists. The days are quickly approaching when we could return to the very public tyranny of a private agnosticism, the likes of which haven't been seen since the mid-twentieth century.

TradNews Roundup

*Pontifical Consecration of the new chapel at the Northern American Seminary of Our Lady of Guadalupe of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter in Denton, Nebraska, slated for March 3, 2010.

*Archbishop Carlson of St. Louis shows his support for the Traditional Latin Mass.

*Was Scott Brown the lesser of two evils or just another wound in a death by a thousand cuts?

*I guess Jeff Mirus will cheer for just about anything. Going goo-goo over 15 Dutch seminarians. Meanwhile the FSSP averages 12 ordinations a year. Pardon me for not being impressed with Jeff's praises for the great Dutch "Treat" or his hopes for the rest of the mainstream. Maybe it's easier to feel better about one's self when one sets the bar as low as possible?

*His Eminence Edward Card. Egan, Archbishop Emeritus of New York, to offer the Pontifical Traditional Latin Mass on the Feast of the Annunciation.

*What's possible when parish priests have gumption and motivation.

*American Anglicans to be significantly impacted by Anglicanorum Coetibus.

*Diaconate and sub-diaconate ordinations for the Institute of the Good Shepherd.

TradNews Roundup

*Second meeting, the first of the year, between the representatives of the CDF and the SSPX took place on 1/18. Keep praying for the speedy canonical recognition of the SSPX.

*Cardinal Schönborn proves to be divisive by visiting Medjugorje. I guess traditional Catholics aren't the only divisive people in the Church! Is Cardinal Schönborn making a play to garner the admiration of the Medjugorje neo-conservatives? A few days later the Cardinal apologized, but without the same degree of publicity.

*Official response from John Hepworth of the Traditional Anglican Communion. Looks like things are going to start moving quickly after Easter.

*New York Rabbi demonstrates his profound religious sensitivity by stating that the Tridentine Mass is a liability. That's OK, Rabbi; for my part, I'm not particularly fond of the Talmud.

*A stunning embarrassment for the Supreme Leader.

*Whenever Fr. Z wants to trot out his anti-traditional-Catholic toadies, he just posts about Williamson. Does his posts about wacko mainstream bishops (of whom there are far more) elicit the same degree of hatred, sighs and indignation? Newsflash to the mindless Fr. Z rabble: There are more wackos, heretics and schismatics in the pews at the typical novus ordo. Should I post pictures?

*Rumors of a possible shake up in LA.

*German District Superior of the SSPX, Fr. Schmidberger, releases a video thanks to Pope Benedict XVI. Nice to see Fr. Z reporting something positive about the SSPX instead of the usual Williamson exposes.

Traditional Latin Mass for the March for Life This Morning

Extraordinary Form Low Mass
Friday, January 22, 2010
8 a.m.
Missa Pro Pace (with commemoration of the saints)

St, Mary Mother of God Church
727 5th Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20001


(Sorry I didn't get this up earlier.)

Good Question

"Those who wish to ardently defend the 'New Mass', the 'Novus Ordo', ought to be able to answer at least this one question: why is it that everything that 16th century 'reformer' Thomas Cranmer wanted to do was wrong when he wanted to do it, but right now that Bugnini has inserted it into the liturgy?"

-From the blog Non Nobis.


Why, indeed?

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina

The Gloria from Palestrina's Missa 'De Beata Virgine'

Pope Benedict XVI Concerning the Talks with the SSPX

Rorate Caeli reports on Pope Benedict XVI's address to the Plenary Session of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith here. According to Rorate Caeli the Holy Father said:

The goal of a shared witness of faith among all Christians "represents, then, a priority for the Church in all periods of history. ... In this spirit, I trust particularly in your dicastery's commitment to overcoming the doctrinal problems that still persist in achieving the full communion of the Society of St. Pius X with the Church".

The SSPX talks are also spoken of in conjunction with the recent measures put in place to receive groups and individuals of the Anglican Communion who desire full communion with the Roman Catholic Church.

His words demonstrate a couple of points. First, by linking the SSPX talks in kind to the measures being provided for possible converts from Anglicanism, we can assume that the Holy Father envisions special provisions for the SSPX as well. Secondly, I notice that in the Holy Father's address the talks with the SSPX are mentioned before the other responsibilities of the CDF. The Holy Father clearly identifies the most important responsibility of the CDF as Christian unity, and the most important specific task in this regard, the talks with the SSPX.

Also, a particular theme of papal authority espoused by Pope Benedict XVI is seen in his words concerning the role of the pope in regards to Christian unity. The Holy Father said, "unity is first and foremost unity of faith, upheld by the sacred tradition of which Peter's Successor is the primary custodian and defender." However, immediately the Holy Father adds, "the Bishop of Rome must constantly proclaim that... Jesus is Lord", and that the pope's ministry requires "obedience to the faith, so that the Truth that is Christ may continue to shine forth in all its grandeur."

Present, then, is the traditional doctrine of papal authority, but not a blind ultramontanism. The pope is not supposed to be an absolute monarch whose will is law, but rather a guardian of the authentic Tradition. The pope's authority is based on obedience in faith. He has stated in the past, shortly before he was elected pope, that the pope has no authority to create new rites and throw the old ones out. Rather, in regards to the liturgy, authentic papal authority is exercised only when the pope acts as a gardener of Catholic liturgy, doing all things with the sole intention of nurturing the liturgy.

The 20th century liturgical movement achieved its definitive coup de'tant only when it had found a pope who would forward its skewed vision of liturgy. Pope Benedict XVI knows very well how 19th century blind ultramontanism paved the way for the decimation of the liturgy in the 20th century, and he is working hard to provide a sound understanding of papal authority, and how it relates to the deposit of faith and Catholic liturgy. This is a move in the right direction; it also further demonstrates that the talks with the SSPX are at the top of his priority list.

TradNews Roundup

*Arguments for the return of the sede gestatoria abound on the internet, but probably not in the Vatican. If I catch a leprechaun, I'll consult with him regarding the possibility of its return during this pontificate.

*Master of papal ceremonies makes an argument for liturgical reform based on adoration and mystical union. He ends his lecture with a comment about the possibility of a Reform of the Reform. How about we just jettison the whole 20th century liturgical movement as the utter failure it is?

*Homeschooling defended by HSLDA. If you homeschool, it would be a good idea to join HSLDA.

*More evidence of the incredible growth in traditional Catholic vocations. Compare this with the fruits of Vatican II.

*Quite possibly the dumbest justification ever. Archdiocese of Milwaukee states that the erection of an image in the cathedral of homosexual profligate, pedophile priest protector and embezzler, Archbishop Weakland, is OK since the work of art was commissioned before it was discovered that Weakland did all those naughty things. Once again our Catholic leaders demonstrate that they just don't get it. Where's VOTF? Hmm. Absent again when it comes to a liberal pedophile priest protector.

*Transalpine Redemptorists in Austin, TX Cathedral. Also, here.

*Another priest leaves the Legion of Christ due to frustration with the Legion's leadership.

*The difference: Pelosi's words aren't just rhetoric; they are backed up with concrete action. Archbishop George Niederauer's words remain just rhetoric because he still isn't prepared to back them up with concrete action. Pelosi and her "Catholic" buddies are laughing at our incompetent bishops as they prepare to force federal funding of abortion on America.

*Government persecution of religion on the way in the USA, thanks to Obama and his cronies.

St. Benedict Biscop, pray for us.

Please indulge my special devotion to St. Benedict Biscop, and please pray for my family on this day which brings memories both fond and bitter of what was gained and then lost.

"The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away; blessed be the Name of the Lord."

January 12 - St. Benedict Biscop

Benedict Biscop Born Biscop Baducing c. 628, St. Benedict Biscop served King Oswui of Northumbria as a warrior until 653 when he accompanied St. Wilfrid on a pilgrimage to Rome. After their return to Britain, Baducing travelled again to Rome with Alcfrith, the son of Oswui, and in 666, Biscop was tonsured at St.-Honorat at Lérins, where he took the monastic name Benedict. He made a third trip to Rome and returned in 669 with Theodore of Tarsus, who had recently been appointed archbishop of Canterbury. Theodore appointed Benedict abbot of Sts. Peter and Paul monastery in Canterbury (now St. Augustine's). In Benedict of Nursia and on the rules of seventeen other monasteries he had visited in his travels. On a fourth trip to Rome in 679, he assured Pope Agatho of the orthodoxy of the English church, and he returned with books and pictures that created cultural ties between Britain and the Continent. John, the abbot of St. Martin's in Rome, came to Britain with Biscop to teach the monks Roman rubrics and script. Benedict's last trip to Rome (685) resulted in many additions to the libraries at Wearmouth and Jarrow, which Biscop had founded in 682. Benedict died c. 689/90, and his relics were translated c. 980 from Wearmouth to Thorney. Glastonbury also claims his relics.

Marini on the Mass, Adoration and Actual Participation

The New Liturgical Movement has the complete text of Msgr. Guido Marini's address to the Year for Priests Clergy Conference in Rome. The complete text can be read here.

Here is what Marini says about adoration and its relationship to the Eucharist and the Mass:

Adoration is the recognition, filled with wonder, we could even say ecstatic, (because it makes us come out of ourselves and our small world) the recognition of the infinite might of God, of His incomprehensible majesty, and of His love without limit which he offers us absolutely gratuitously, of His omnipotent and provident Lordship. Consequently, adoration leads to the reunification of man and creation with God, to the abandonment of the state of separation, of apparent autonomy, to loss of self, which is, moreover, the only way of regaining oneself...

...I think that, among others, the following passage from the text I just read should not go unnoticed: “[The Eucharistic celebration] is itself the Church's supreme act of adoration.” Thanks to the holy Eucharist, his Holiness, Benedict XVI, asserts once more: “The imagery of marriage between God and Israel is now realised in a way previously inconceivable: it had meant standing in God's presence, but now it becomes union with God through sharing in Jesus' self-gift, sharing in his body and blood.” (Deus Caritas est, n.13) For this reason, everything in the liturgy, and more specifically in the Eucharistic liturgy, must lead to adoration, everything in the unfolding of the rite must help one enter into the Church’s adoration of her Lord.

To consider the liturgy as locus for adoration, for union with God, does not mean to loose sight of the communal dimension in the liturgical celebration, even less to forget the imperative of charity toward one’s neighbour. On the contrary, only through a renewal of the adoration of God in Christ, which takes form in the liturgical act, will an authentic fraternal communion and a new story of charity and love arise, depending on that ability to wonder and act heroically, which only the grace of God can give to our poor hearts. The lives of the saints remind and teach us this. “Union with Christ is also union with all those to whom he gives himself. I cannot possess Christ just for myself; I can belong to him only in union with all those who have become, or who will become, his own. Communion draws me out of myself towards him, and thus also towards unity with all Christians.” (Deus caritas est, n. 14)

From the principles laid down regarding adoration, Marini moves to a correct understanding of participation:

As confirmation and support for what has just been asserted, let us listen once again to the words of a passage by the then Cardinal Ratzinger, from his fundamental study “The Spirit of the Liturgy”: “What does this active participation come down to? What does it mean that we have to do? Unfortunately the word was very quickly misunderstood to mean something external, entailing a need for general activity, as if as many people as possible, as often as possible, should be visibly engaged in action. However, the word ‘part-icipation’ refers to a principal action in which everyone has a ‘part’...By the actio of the liturgy the sources mean the Eucharistic prayer. The real liturgical action, the true liturgical act, is the oratio....This oratio—the Eucharistic Prayer, the “Canon”—is really more than speech; it is actio in the highest sense of the word.” (pp. 171-2) Christ is made present in all of his salvific work, and for this reason the human actio becomes secondary and makes room for the divine actio, to God’s work.

Thus the true action which is carried out in the liturgy is the action of God Himself, his saving work in Christ, in which we participate. This is, among other things, the true novelty of the Christian liturgy with respect to every other act of worship: God Himself acts and accomplishes that which is essential, whilst man is called to open himself to the activity of God, in order to be left transformed. Consequently, the essential aspect of active participation is to overcome the difference between God’s act and our own, that we might become one with Christ. This is why, that I might stress what has been said up to now, it is not possible to participate without adoration. (Emphasis added by me.)

Marini links this correct interpretation of "active participation" to the original intent of Sacrosanctum Concilium. I'm willing to concede that this interpretation may have been the intention of most of the Council Fathers, but I'm skeptical that this interpretation was intended by the actual document or the individual who was responsible for its drafting.

Regardless, Marini's lecture demonstrates that central figures in the Vatican, including the Holy Father, have returned to the true meaning of the words that were originally drafted by Pope St. Pius X. Namely, liturgy is a public act, not "the work of the people", the principle actor in this public work is the High Priest, Jesus Christ, and the principle "part" played by man is to open himself up to this work of God so that God might accomplish, in the measure of His good purpose, unity of same man with Christ.

"It is not possible to participate without adoration." The liturgical manifesto of this present pontificate is clearly stated in these words, and it can act as a barometer by which art, architecture, music, and most importantly, our prayers and actions at Mass are judged sacred and fitting.

And, as an aside to this present topic, but an aside that is absolutely crucial in our consideration of the merits of the 20th century liturgical movement, this manifesto, whether intended or not by Marini, also acts as a barometer by which we can judge which form of the the Roman Rite is more fitting and sacred. The Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite, as a form of liturgy shaped by a narrow conception of liturgical piety that centers only on the roles of the ministers at the altar, is entirely focused on the external human actio. It inherently limits man's ability to open himself up by adoration, so that God might accomplish the unity of man with God. If this pontificate is to stay true to its own liturgical principles, then it must steer a course for the Church that eventually abrogates the novus ordo Missae.

TradNews Roundup

*On January 1st the Holy Father says during his Angelus that, "today the liturgy reminds us that eight days after the birth of the Child [Mary] and her husband Joseph brought Him to be circumcised." Um. That would be the liturgy according to the Extraordinary Form, as the calendar for the novus ordo now has the Solemnity of Mary the Mother of God on the 1st of January.

**First week of the year is usually one of the busiest. I didn't have much time to surf the web and read the papers this week.

The Blessed Sacrament, Haydn and Dom Lorenzo Scupoli

Adoro te, O panis by Johann Michael Haydn

Adoro te O panis caelice,
O Domine O Deus maxime.
Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus,
síne fíne Sanctus.
Semper tíbi gloria
Sacra sit sub Hostia.

Nos famulos, O Deus, respice,
Et gratia nos semper refice.
Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus,
sine fine sanctus.
Semper Tibi gloria
sacra sit sub hostia.

Treatise on Peace of Soul and Inner Happines
By Dom Lorenzo Scupoli

Chapter Eight
Concerning Our Faith in the Blessed Sacrament, and the Method by Which We Are to Offer Ourselves to God

Our faith and love in the Holy Eucharist must so increase and strengthen as to become almost part of the very fibre of our being. Such faith and love cannot be successfully cultivated without a disciplined will, prepared to undergo all afflictions, tribulations, infirmities, and spiritual dryness for the sake of Jesus Christ. It is not for us to ask Him to change Himself unto us, rather should we humbly petition to be changed into Him.

Entertain Him not with pompous speeches or empty words, Admiration and exultation should so engulf our souls as to submerge these functions, as it were, when He is present. Our understanding should be completely absorbed in joyous contemplation of this incomprehnsible mystery, and our heart suffused with joy at the sight of such immense majesty under such simple appearances. And let us desire no further manifestation of His divinity, remembering His deathless words: "Blessed are they who have not seen, and have believed."

Above all let us be constant and punctual in our devotions, and practice unceasingly those means most conducive to purifying and adorning our souls with a peaceful and mild simplicity. And while these methods are followed, the grace of perserverance will never be wanting to us.

A soul which has once known the ineffable delight of spiritual peace can never return to the hurry and confusion of a worldly life; for it is impossible for her to endure it in such circumstances.

TradNews Roundup

*Good news regarding new appointments to the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei. First FSSP priest to be named to the Commission, as well as an ardent, and persecuted, supporter of Summorum Pontificum. Story at Rorate Coeli.

*Sandro Magister's eulogy to the now dead (God have mercy upon his soul) Edward Schillebeeckx (Dicken's fictional character, Jacob Marley, also died on Christmas Eve, croaking his last regrets to the unsympathetic), can be found here: In Holland, There's No More Room for the Child Jesus. Or Then Again, There Is. Schillebeeckx lived to see the fruit of his labors.

*Pope's prayer intentions for the month of January:

General: That young people may learn to use modern means of social communication for their personal growth and to better prepare themselves to serve society.

Missionary intention: That every believer in Christ may be conscious that unity among all Christians is a condition for more effective proclamation of the Gospel.

Slow TradNews week. (Yes, I know. The pope was knocked down. He's doing fine. Keep praying for him.)

Several Excellent Methods: Ten

Several Excellent Methods of Hearing Mass
by Lady Lucy Herbert

click to enlarge

An Angel Saves a Soul in Purgatory by Lodovico Carracci, circa 1610

Motives to move us to hear Mass for the poor souls in Purgatory

We ought to be persuaded that we cannot exercise charity in a manner more pleasing and agreeable to Almighty God, or more profitable to ourselves, than in offering this sacrifice for the souls in Purgatory. If therefore we give to them those satisfactions we could appropriate to ourselves, we shall be well repaid for it. First, by the merit we shall have for that act of charity; and secondly, by the gratitude of those souls in praying for us when they are in heaven.

When we resolve to give them this great advantage, we may do it in this following manner:

O my Lord and Saviour, since you are pleased to charge yourself with the sins of all, and to pay with your precious Blood the pains justly due to them, be pleased to offer to your eternal Father the torments of your Passion in exchange for those which the souls in Purgatory suffer.

I beg you will mercifully shorten, and, if it may be, put an end to the pains which they suffer. 'Tis with my whole heart that I give them the satisfactions which your goodness would apply to me by virtue and means of this Sacrifice. Since, dear Lord, I can give you nothing, for what do you stand in need of? I esteem myself happy in contributing something to the solace of your Friends and Servants; those Holy souls who feel those devouring flames burn with an ardent desire to see you. What happiness for me, thus to contribute to it!

And you, O Holy Souls, when you shall be in possession of that heavenly kingdom prepared for you, treat with Almighty God in my behalf, and obtain for me the same possession. Amen.